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Chance are you rely on your MacBook to get your work done and maybe even keep your life in order. But some of your daily habits could be affecting the health of your laptop. Fortunately, they are simple to correct and change. This is the one thing you should never do to your MacBook — fix this problem and take better care of this tech investment.
Don’t Set Up Simple Passwords
Hackers can easily figure out simple passwords — the kind that involve your name, your pet’s name. a birthday, and maybe a random number or two. If you insist on a password like Mary123, you are likely going to find yourself needing to change it often to avoid privacy issues. A complex password that involves a series of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, is the best kind of password.
But, of course, the issue with complex passwords is that they are impossible to remember — and keeping your passwords stored in Notes isn’t advisable, either. The great news is that you can rely on your OS X’s built-in password generator to create (and recall) lengthy, impossible-to-hack passwords.
To generate a difficult password launch Keychain Access from the Applications/Utility folder. Select Passwords from the categories on the left. Click the + button at the bottom of your screen. Click the Key button from a pop-up window that shows up. With Password Assistant now open, choose Memorable and rely on Suggestion to take a simple password you create and turn it into a more complex one.
Now that you have more secure passwords set up for all of your accounts, remember another golden rule: do NOT open spam on your Mac. Unsolicited emails and attachments are a red flag, as are pop-ups that claim your Mac has a virus. Downloading a free browser extension like Adblock can help prevent these pop-ups.
